Attachment for golf clubs



Oct. 22, 1940. wfE. WHITNEY ATTACHMENT FOR GOLF CLUBS Filed May 20, 1959 Patented Oct. 22,1940

' William WhitnembainbridgaMass. Application May 20, 1939, Serial No; 274,768 4 Claims. (01. are-'77) This invention relates to attachments for golf clubs which'indicate when the club is swung improperly, particularly when the club is accelerated too rapidly at the end of the :back swing,

that is, slowed'downtoo quickly as theback swing is stopped or started up too quickly as the down swing is begun.

Objects of the invention are to provide'an attachment which is simple and inexpensive to w construct, which is durable and effective in use,

which may be'attached to any one of a wide variety of clubs, and which is generally superior to prior art devices for this general purpose.

According to this invention the attachment comprises a part movable by its owninertiain response to excessive acceleration (either posifive or negative) at the end of the back swing.

in combination with means-for mounting the part on a club so that the aforesaid part is normally movable transversely of the axis of the club in an approximately vertical plane containing the said axis when the club is held grounded in normal .stance. The attaching means preferably'comprises a clamp adaptedto be fitted around the shaft of a golf club for anchoring the attachment in fixed position on the club, and the aforesaid movable partpreferably comprises'an arm pivoted or otherwise movably mounted on the clamp. While the movement of the aforesaid part may produce-a signal in any one of many ways, it is preferably arranged to'produce thesignal merely by tapping against the shaft. .While the device preferably includes a spring'forholding the part in normal position after it has been moved to signal ,position by an improper swing, it may be held in normal position merely by frictional engagement with its pivotal. support..

For the purpose of illustration typical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a face view of a golf club in the position which it occupies in normal stance, the 45 club carrying an attachment embodying the present invention; i

Fig. 2 is a top View with parts broken away; Fig. 3 is a section on line 33"of Fig. 2; and Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are enlarged views corresponding to Fig. l of modifications of the attachment,

While the subject matter of the present invention may be applied to any kind of a club, it is illustrated in the drawing as applied to. a wooden club comprising a head I having a face 2 and a shaft 3 having a grip or handle 4, The

position and for returning .the' part ,to normal attachment shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 comprises a clamp 5 formed in'two parts which are secured together by bolts 6 and I At its upper enol'the clamp terminatesin'a loop 8 in which is pivo ted 7 an arm" 9"by' means of a'pivot bolt Hi. At its opposite ends the arm 9 has fingers Hand l2 which extend toward the shaft of the club, the lengthof the'fingers being such that when one finger contacts with the club the other finger is spaced somewhat from the club, whereby the arm may oscillate back and forth about the" pivot ll) with the; fingers H and l2 impinging upon the shaft 3 and limitingthe oscillatory motion; Yieldingly to hold the arm 9 in the position in which the finger llYcontacts with the shaft and the finger H is spaced away from the shaft, a

spring 13 is interposed between the arm and the shaft intermediate the clamp and the finger ii'.

'To hold'the spring in position between the arm herent inertia of the arm 9 may if desired be augmented bya weight I5. When the attachment is applied to the club PATENT:

the arm 9' is located approximately in the plane which containstheaXis-of the club and which extends approximately lengthwise of the face 2 of the club head. (theplane of the-paper in Fig. Since thewrists roll clockwise on the back swing so that the toe ofthe club points downwardly at the endgof the back swing the force which checks the back swing and starts. the club on the downswing tends to cause .zthe arm 9 to swing about the'pivot H] in a clockwise direction (Fig. 1) due togthe inertia of. thearm 9 and/or augmented by that of the weight I5. Thus if the back swing be decelerated too quicklyor the early portion of the down swing be accelerated 1 too quickly the arm swings against the action of the spring I3 until the finger II impinges against the shaft, whereupon the spring 53 returns the arm to normal position. Thus the excessive acceleration (either positive or negative), produces a warning in the form of a tapping noise, once when the finger ll impinges ISO counter-clockwise direction and as the club head approaches the ball the acceleration of the club tends to swing the arm 9 not in the aforesaid plane but in the plane of the stroke which is perpendicular to the aforesaid plane. Inasmuch as the arm 9 is not free to swing inthis direction rapid acceleration of the club as it approaches the ball produces no movement of the arm. Thus at the proper time, but not before, the player may rapidly accelerate the club head, by what-is commonly called wrist snap, without producing the aforesaid signal.

The modification shown in Fig. 4 differs from the attachment above described in that the arm I9 is mounted on a spring 20 and has only one finger 22 corresponding to finger l2 in Fig. 1. When the club is accelerated too rapidly in the direction indicated by the arrow 26, which is the same direction as indicated by the arrow It in Fig. 1, the finger 22 moves away from the shaft 23 due to flexing of the spring 20;, and at the end of the excessive acceleration the spring 20 returns the arm [9 to the normal position shown in Fig. 4, at which time the finger 22 impinges upon the shaft to signal the operator as aforesaid.

The modification shown in Fig. 5 is identical with that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, except in that the spring 43 and pin 46, corresponding to parts 13 and I6 of Figs. 1 to 3, is located on the opposite side of the pivot 49 between the arm 49 and the shaft 33 so as normally to hold the finger 4| ,(instead of the finger 42) against the shaft. This modification is mounted under the shaft instead of over the shaft as in Figs. 1 and 2. Thuswhen the club is accelerated too fast in the direction of the arrow 41, corresponding to the direction indicated by the' arrow I! in Fig. 1, the inertia of the arm augmented by that of the Weight 45 causes the finger 42 to tap against the shaft.

The modification shown in Fig. 6 is like that shown in Figs. 1 to 3 butin addition to the arm 59, corresponding to the arm 9 in Figs. 1 to 3, a sounding disk 60 is mounted on the shaft 63 by means of a clamp 64 so that, whenthe arm 59 swings in a counterclockwise direction about its pivot (Fig. 6) in response to excessive acceleration, the long end of the arm 59 impinges upon the disk 68 to give the aforesaid signal.

As indicated by the taper of the shafts in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the head ends of the shafts are at the right-hand ends of the figures.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims. For example, instead of employing a spring to hold the inertia arms in normal position they may be held solely by friction, in which case they are returned to normal position by hand after an improper swing; and instead of relying on a mechanical signal the device may operate an electrical si nal by insulating the inertia arm from the shaft and. connecting the signal circuit to the arm and shaft respectively so that the circuit is closed when the inertia arm moves in response to an improper swing.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a golf club comprising a part movable in response to excessive acceleration at the end of the back swing to indicate when the clubis swung improperly, and means for mounting said part on the club so that the part is normally free to move by its own inertia in response-to said acceleration transversely of the axis of the club in an approximately vertical plane containing said axis when the club is held grounded in normal stance.

2. An attachment for a golf club comprising a part movable in response to excessive acceleration of the club at the end of the back swing, to indicate when the club is swung improperly, and means for mounting said part on the shaft of a golf club so that the part is normally free to move by its own inertia in response to said acceleration transversely of the shaft approximately in the plane which contains the axis of the club and which extends lengthwise of the face of the club.

3. An attachment for a golf club comp-rising a part movable in response to excessive acceleration of the club at the end of the back swing, to indicate when the club is swung improperly, means for mounting said part on the shaft of a golf club so that the part is movable transversely of the shaft approximately in the plane which contains. the axis'of the club and which extends lengthwise of the face of the club, and yielding means normally resisting the movement of said part, said movable part being otherwise free to move by its own inertia against the resistance of said yielding means in response to said acceleration.

4.- An attachment for a golf club comprising a clamp for anchoring the attachment in fixed position on the shaft of the club, and an arm carried by the clamp and extending lengthwise of the shaft, the arm being normally movable transversely of the axis of the shaft approximately in a plane which contains said axis and which extends approximately lengthwise of the face of the club, and the arm being free to move as aforesaid by its own inertia in response to excessive acceleration of the club at the end of the back swing.

WILLIAM E. WHITNEY. 

